Increases Annual Dividend to $1.40 Per Share
Elects Brent Hastie, Craig Williams and Julie Hamilton as Senior
Vice Presidents
The Board of Directors of The Coca-Cola Company today approved the
Company's 54th consecutive annual dividend increase, raising
the quarterly dividend 6 percent from 33 cents to 35 cents per common
share. This is equivalent to an annual dividend of $1.40 per share, up
from $1.32 per share in 2015. The first quarterly dividend is payable
April 1, 2016, to shareowners of record as of March 15, 2016.
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Brent Hastie
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The increase reflects the Board's confidence in the Company's long-term
cash flow. The Coca-Cola Company returned $5.7 billion in dividends to
shareowners in 2015, bringing the total amount to $29 billion given back
to shareowners through dividends since Jan. 1, 2010.
The Board today also elected Brent Hastie, Craig Williams and Julie
Hamilton as Senior Vice Presidents of the Company, effective immediately.
Brent Hastie is Vice President, Strategy & Planning. In this role, he is
responsible for driving the Company’s global strategic planning and
helping develop new avenues for revenue growth, while also leading
opportunities to improve productivity and efficiency. Hastie first
joined The Coca-Cola Company in 2006 where he held numerous leadership
assignments including Chief Strategy Officer for Coca-Cola Refreshments,
President, Active Lifestyle Brands, Vice President, Commercial
Leadership Still Beverages, and Vice President, Strategy and Planning,
all for the North America Group.
Prior to joining The Coca-Cola Company, Hastie was a Principal with
McKinsey & Company working in Atlanta, Brazil and South Africa. He also
served as an Executive Vice President at Bain Capital, in the Private
Equity group.
Craig Williams is President of the McDonald's Division. He leads a
global organization that is responsible for building the strategic
alliance with McDonald's in over 35,000 restaurants in more than 100
countries. Prior to this, Williams was the Senior Vice President and
Chief Operating Officer for the McDonald’s Division and led its five
global business units, fostering the Company’s strategic partnerships
and building business development plans with the Company’s customer of
60-plus years. He joined the Company in 2005, and has since held
positions of increasing responsibility within the McDonald’s Division,
which included the role of Vice President, United States, as well as
Assistant Vice President, U.S. Marketing.
Before joining The Coca-Cola Company, Williams spent three years as a
global marketing leader with CIBA Vision Corporation and seven years
with Kraft Foods Inc., working in brand management and new product
development. He also spent five years in the U.S. Navy as a Naval
Nuclear Power Officer.
Julie Hamilton serves as the Company’s Global Chief Customer and
Commercial Leadership Officer. In this role she supports the Company’s
global customer partners and builds commercial strategies and customer
capabilities across the global system. Prior to this role, she was
Executive Assistant to the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The
Coca-Cola Company.
Hamilton joined The Coca-Cola Company in 1996 and has held a variety of
sales, marketing and operational positions including Group Vice
President North America Walmart Team, Vice President, Global Customer
Development, Group Director for Global On-Premise Customers, Director of
Marketing in the North America Retail Division, Group Manager of
Strategic Partnership Marketing and Brand Development Manager for Still
Beverages.
About The Coca-Cola Company
The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is the world’s largest beverage
company, refreshing consumers with more than 500 sparkling and still
brands. Led by Coca-Cola, the world’s most valuable brand, our Company’s
portfolio features 20 billion-dollar brands including Diet Coke, Fanta,
Sprite, Coca-Cola Zero, vitaminwater, Powerade, Minute Maid, Simply,
Georgia and Del Valle. Globally, we are the No. 1 provider of sparkling
beverages, ready-to-drink coffees, and juices and juice drinks. Through
the world’s largest beverage distribution system, consumers in more than
200 countries enjoy our beverages at a rate of more than 1.9 billion
servings a day. With an enduring commitment to building sustainable
communities, our Company is focused on initiatives that reduce our
environmental footprint, support active, healthy living, create a safe,
inclusive work environment for our associates, and enhance the economic
development of the communities where we operate. Together with our
bottling partners, we rank among the world’s top 10 private employers
with more than 700,000 system employees. For more information, please
visit www.coca-colacompany.com,
follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/CocaColaCo
or visit our blog at www.coca-colablog.com.
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